Main menu

Bill Clinton Opens Up About His Affair With Monica Lewinsky In New Documentary

In the third episode of “Hillary,” and upcoming Hulu series about Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton opens up about his two-year affair with Monica Lewinsky.

He compared being a president to boxing, and then said, “And here’s something that’ll take your mind off it for a while. Everybody’s life has pressures and disappointments, terrors, fears of whatever. Things I did to manage my anxieties for years.”

The episode, titled “The Hardest Decision,” covers a number of incidents during Clinton’s presidency, including Paula Jones’ sexual harassment suit against him.

The episode begins with a clip from the 2016 campaign where Trump spoke about the affair, then called Hillary “an enabler.”

The episode also shows Clinton’s deposition during the Jones’ case, and the detailed questions he was asked about his involvement with Lewinsky. His answers led to perjury charges, and were the basis for his House impeachment. He was later acquitted in the Senate.

Hillary recalled Bill telling her that news were about to claim that he had an affair with Lewinsky. She said, “I was just waking up … I was having a hard time processing and I said, ‘What are you talking about? What is this? What do you mean?’ He said, ‘There’s nothing to it. It’s not true. I may have been too nice to her, I may have paid her too much attention … but there was nothing.’ He was adamant, and he was convincing to me.”

Hillary believed that the “vast right-wing conspiracy” was out to get her and her husband.

She said, “If they could make up something, they were so partisan that they would do it.”

However, her husband finally admitted to the affair.

“I went and sat on the bed and talked to her. I told her exactly what happened, when it happened,” Bill says in the documentary. “I said I feel terrible about it … I have no defenses, it’s inexcusable what I did.”

Hillary says, “I was so, you know, personally hurt. It just … anyway, it was … horrible.”

Bill states that he is “a different, totally different person than I was” and “apologizes” to Lewinsky.

“I feel terrible about the fact that Monica Lewinsky’s life was defined by it, unfairly I think, over the years I’ve watched her try to get a normal life again,” he says.

Lewinsky declined to appear in the documentary.

Speaking about the impeachment, Hillary said, “He shouldn’t have done what he did, he shouldn’t have tried to hide it, but it was not an impeachable offense.”

She states that while her decision to stay in the marriage did not sit well with many, she still stands by her decision.

Bill stated, “I was so grateful she thought we still had enough to stick it out.”